Yeah - this is one of those things I have heard about for years, but for the life of me, I can’t imagine what kind of asshole would care how anyone else asked to have their food prepared - let alone would comment about it.
I live in the Chicago area, though I did not grow up here. I put ketchup on my hot dog, and I’ve ordered it that way at any number of Chicago hot dog places over the past 30 years. Not once has anyone made a remark about it.
I think it’s more of a “You know you’re from Chicago if…” meme, than anything else.
Another nearly life long Chicagoan, from a burn bordering on the north to Hyde Park to Oak Park. Hot dogs bought all over. Never seen it happen and can’t imagine it happening other than as theater.
Locally now I miss Tasty Dog , where my daughter always got her dogs with ketchup.
I know some sushi places where if you asked for ketchup on your sushi they would probably refuse to do so.
I have personally seen it although it was many years ago. I forget the place exactly…a small (very small, no seating or very, very little seating) hotdog joint downtown, not far off Michigan Ave. They prepared all hotdogs to order but if you ordered ketchup on it they would not put that on. Instead they would hand you your hotdog and some packets of ketchup and let you do it.
They didn’t verbally berate you but they were still expressing their disdain for it.
When we’re done talking about hot dogs can we move on to pizza?
More broadly that Chicago is simply a great food city, even hobbled by COVID. Local to where our op lives now we’ve had some good places not survive. (Our favorite Italian place, La Bella sadly among them) and while there are several options for good pan or stuffed pizza our choices for good regular pizza are not so great any more. But lots of good eating and strong opinions remain!
On Lake Street just east of Oak Park Ave are both Saigon Pho and Papaspiros, each excellent. Tacabron in Forest Park is very good to pick up from. Amarinds on North Ave for excellent Thai.
If you like food you are in a good place!
This weather is not normal. Tuesday or Wednesday last week, I had snow on my windshield and it was 83 when I got in the car yesterday afternoon.
Spring in Chicago is alternating states of winter and summer, until summer finally wins.
I belong to a good number of south side Facebook groups and hot dog groups and there are plenty of people here who do like ketchup on their dogs. Most of anti-ketchup stuff is playful ingroup teasing (which I’m sure many people don’t find playful at all after hearing about it for the bazillionth time.) That said, there are places that simply don’t have ketchup on premises, like Gene and Jude’s and I don’t think Jimmy’s Red Hots has it, either. In both those places, too, you will not get the “salad on a bun” (which I think is a misnomer, anyway – you want a true “dragged through the garden” dog, go to Byrons, where you’ll the get the Chicago 7 toppings PLUS lettuce, cucumbers, and green peppers.) There’s also a place in Bridgeport – I forget which – where you have to ring a bell if you want ketchup on your dog.
Gene and Jude’s and Jimmy’s serve what has become known as a “depression dog.” No tomato. No poppy seed bun. Just mustard, onions, relish, and optional sport peppers. There’s a number of places that serve it that way (and that’s the type of hot dog I grew up with.)
ETA: Ah, it’s 35th Street Red Hots I’m thinking of. I think they also do the more stripped-down style, but it’s been many years since I’ve been there:
When I go through a homemade hot dog kick, I also usually wind up skipping the tomato and pickle spear and stick to mustard, raw onion, & relish* (and usually peppers). However, I really think the celery salt is essential. It punches far higher above its weight than one might first think.
*I’ve really come around to the delights of dill relish which is amazing on a variety of dishes. I made a cream cheese/sour cream/mayo smoked fish dip for Easter yesterday and wasn’t getting the flavor from the fresh dill I was hoping for. A few teaspoons of juice from the dill relish made the dip snap to attention. It’s amazing on hot dogs and burgers and chicken sandwiches and things like tuna salad. It spreads thin so you’re not awkwardly chewing on a big bite of pickle spear. Great on hot dogs, if not completely authentic.
I like the celery salt on dogs that have tomato on them (and particularly tomato and cucumber.) The cucumber thing I haven’t ascertained whether it’s more common on the South Side or whether it’s just randomly scattered about the Chicago area, but I far prefer fresh cucumber to the pickle spear if I’m going the more decorated Chicago style. You already have relish on there, so why a pickle, too? They’re both essentially the same thing except I guess that the relish is sweet relish and the pickle is dill, but you’ve already got plenty of sour on the dog. Plus I never eat the pickle on the dog. I always remove it and eat it separately like you would with any normal sandwich. So, for me, the celery salt is to punch up the vegetables. At home, I like using Old Bay instead of plain celery salt, too.
+1 on that. I live close to Superdawg and no one eats the dilly pickled tomato on the dog. It’s a side thing that honestly has me puckering just thinking about it now, love em. You see a few in the lot, where jerkoffs threw them.
Get a jar of dill relish, it’s really versatile and the same price as the cheap sweet relish, like $1.79.
Oh, I always have both kinds on hand. But not the neon green Chicago stuff – just regular sweet relish. (I could always add blue food coloring if I want that crazy green tint, but I don’t. I really don’t quite get the allure of neon foodstuffs.)
I get a burger rather than a dog at Superdawg, but I eat the pickled tomato.
But probably not on the Whoopercheesie which is what I’d meant in my imprecisely worded comment.
If you’ve never had them before, try the onion chips. Like onion rings only made from the heart of the onion.
Years ago we went to a sushi place on Division in Wicker Park; might have been Mirai. I remember that it had pretty good reviews and was considered about as good a sushi place as Chicago had at the time.
Anyway, we sat at the sushi bar and ordered some nigiri. My wife asked the chef (older, Japanese man; I’m assuming he was the sushi chef there) if he could either cut each piece in half, or make them a little smaller than normal; she can’t do most nigiri in one bite like her big-mouth husband.
The guy just looked at her for a moment and simply said, “no,” then went on to make the sushi the way he thought it should be made.
I still haven’t decided whether I admire his commitment to his way, think it’s silly that he couldn’t make a simple accommodation like this, or both.
/clutches pearls
I’m not a sushi connoisseur or anything but I know a bit about how it’s made and formed. Cutting either a maki or a nigiri would be really tough and would probably destroy the integrity of the item.
I’m betting it wasn’t jerkishness or arrogance, I suspect it was more about practicality. It’s almost like asking your hot dog chef if they’d slice your fully dressed dog lengthwise for you.
Maki comes in different sizes (some are impossibly big to eat easily). The chef could have recommended some of the smaller types.